CTA – Randolph/Wabash

Heatlamps in the winter filled with pigeons, the station is literally crumbling (soon to be replaced by a massive Washington/​Randolph station), but it gets the job done. Pay attention to the overhead monitors for train times, and don’t bump your head if you’re crossing over the street from one side to another (if you’re over 6-​foot be careful!)

The Randolph Street Station is perfect for people from the South ‘burbs like me because it’s a block away from the Metra/​Millenium Station and you can access 5 of the el lines, so basically you can go anywhere in Chicago! Fare is $ 2.25 per way and there was a guard standing there making sure everyone swiped their pass, so don’t even try to get a freebie.
If you’re a tourist and not familar with the city, use Google maps to help you with which el line to take and which stop to get off. It’s very thorough and will get you exactly where you need to go. Now go explore with your newfound freedom!

It’s a standard Loop elevated station with room to wait under the roof. You can access the Brown, Green, Pink, Orange, and Purple Lines.

Pink is my line: goes directly from my house to work. Most of the elevated stations downtown are dirty and rotting away, this one has a particularly relic feeling with a huge chunk of the station all dirty, poop covered and with thick slabs of peeling paint and rust. Sways when the train comes by. But I assume this is approved as stable by city engineers. One day it will be scrubbed, maybe in 10 years. ALso, when it rains, there are literal waterfalls greeting you when you walk through the turnstyles. For a major city transportation kind of embarassing but a litle fun for the locals.

Hey… its an (old) L station…’nuff said

I really want to give this station four stars, but I’ve trudged up its annoying stairs too often with a heavy blue duffel bag to forget the aches and pains. Ever.
But it’s really cool how relatively conveniently located it is to the everything, including Metra and the South Shore Line’s Millennium Station. Many times while walking the few hundred yards or so from that station to here, I thought about which places I would visit if I lived in Downtown Chicago, whether I would ever actually live in Downtown Chicago, whether if I lived in another part of Chicago I would actually bother coming here as places like this tend to be touristy/​nine-​to-​fivey, etc.
So thanks for the memories and for making me more cosmopolitan. My brief experiences here have been formative as I’m a public-​transportation maven in San Francisco.

I live ½ block from the Randolph CTA station so this station is very convenient for me. You can ride the brown, orange, green and pink lines and I usually do not have to wait very long for the brown line (the only one I take here).
During the rush hour, this stop is not very busy but it does get busy within 1 – 2 more stops. But other times it is seldom crowded and I like that the best :)